Another Golden Mask (and a ring)

[matz]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... 256299.jpg
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/ ... 327"GÇ£The connection between the finds in the ancient tombs of Archontiko, Sindos, Aiges, Aiani and Trebenice (north of Lake Ochrid in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) goes beyond the stylistic and technical connection between the objects to the level of ideology, raising a series of questions about the history and the cultural and social development of the Macedonians and other inhabitants of Macedonia,GÇ¥ says Chrysostomos."Assuming that the latest finds were Thracian as suggested, it puts very serious doubt on the current wisdom indeed.

[susan]

Coincidentally, a couple of months ago I bought the catalogue of an exhibition of Thracian treasures from Bulgaria, held at the British Museum in 1976. There are definite similarities with the treasures from Aegae - including a splendid greave from 380-350 BC. I'll try to scan it and send or post an image; I thought of the connection with Macedonia - particularly with the interest shown in horses. I wondered if Philip's name ( lover of horses) stemmed from this - did the name Philippos turn up in other Greek areas, or was it a Macedonian name ? Is much known of the Thracian language ? There are some Thracian inscriptions, but only names.Susan

[yiannis]

Apart for a cousin of mine (:-), Aristophanes' father was named Philippos and so he named his son as well (his son was also a playwriter who's works have not been saved).
Apart for Philippos there were many more names associated with horses in the Greek world, such as Speusippos, Hippocrates, Thrasippos, Xanthippos, Aristippos and more.

[matz]

Would be nice if you could post an image.Thracian is likely to be related to the Baltic-Slavic languages.The puzzle with the names in the region is interesting. Even Spartacus' name, a Thracian, appears to be Greek in origin.We need to give a chance to the archaeology.

[marcus]

A word of caution about Spartacus, though - there is a possibility, if not a probability, that the designation of 'Thracian' referred to the style of gladiatorial combat that he practised, rather than to his ethnic origin. So making any linguistic connections on the basis of his name (which might have been a nickname, anyway) could be a red herring.All the bestMarcus

[matz]

Agree about making linguistic connections based on his name, which was not my intention.The place of birth may suggest the ethnic background, although it can not a proof of that by any means. Unless there is some reference of self-proclamation or determination of it by others.Taking this point to its extreme, the ethnic origin of many renown ancient figures and characters can be questioned.Care is required to avoid double standards, and in my opinion that is something the world historiograhpy can do a lot of improvement on.Cheers,
Matz

[marcus]

I couldn't agree with you more about the need for improvements in historiography.However, to be completely objective about it ... some of the 'problems' we see in historiography nowadays will, naturally, be studied historiographically in the future - a self-fulfilling discipline! :-)All the bestMarcus

[matz]

said rather beautifully, I might add ((:on the positive side, there is something to whine about ((:

[marcus]

Thank you